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Benefit Design

The Health Care Flexible Spending Account allows you to set aside pre-tax dollars for eligible health care expenses for you, your spouse, and your eligible dependents (as defined by the Internal Revenue Code and the cafeteria plan) that are not covered as eligible expenses under any other health plan. You may elect to contribute a minimum of $100, up to a maximum of $2,650 annually to this account. Your contributions will automatically be deducted in equal installments from your paychecks before taxes are calculated. You have access to the full amount of your annual election immediately.

In addition, Health Care FSA participants may carry over up to $500 in unused funds from one year to the next. This is a great feature. It means that you are less likely to forfeit unused funds at year’s end, or be forced to “spend down” your account on non-essentials. And, you do not have to try to precisely predict out-of-pocket medical expenses a whole year in advance. Any money carried over from one year to the next does not count toward the annual maximum contribution amount ($2,650), which means you could have access to up to $3,150 in the new year. You will still want to think carefully about how much you contribute to a Health Care FSA. While you can carry over up to $500 of unused funds, you will lose any amount over $500 if you don’t claim it by the filing deadline of Apr. 30, 2018.

Important Note Regarding Domestic Partners: Expenses for your domestic partner and/or his or her children are not eligible for reimbursement under your Health Care FSA unless they qualify as your dependents for federal income tax purposes. Therefore, to prevent receiving an overpayment which may result in adverse tax consequences, you should not activate the automatic reimbursement feature if you cover a domestic partner.

Eligible Expenses

You can review a searchable list of eligible expenses on the WageWorks website or by calling WageWorks at 877.924.3967. Please note that eligibility for reimbursement is determined by IRS rules. This is a partial listing of eligible expenses:

Deductibles, copays and coinsurance after other insurance has paid (including medical, prescription drug, dental and vision)

Reimbursement Process

WageWorks offers Health Care FSA participants a variety of ways to manage their accounts and receive reimbursements, including an automatic reimbursement option (AHPC). If you enable this feature, the copay or coinsurance you paid for an SU medical, prescription, dental or vision claim is forwarded from our plan administrators to WageWorks and you will be automatically reimbursed. If you choose this option, you do not have to save any receipts or complete any claim forms to receive reimbursement from your Health Care FSA for these expenses. You may enroll in automatic reimbursement through through MySlice when you first enroll as a new hire, or during the annual Open Enrollment period. Should you wish to activate or waive this feature outside of the Open Enrollment period, please contact the Human Resources Service Center at hrservice@syr.edu to request assistance.

Filing a Claim

If you have not elected the AHPC reimbursement option, or have a health care expense that cannot be submitted through the AHPC reimbursement option, you may easily file a claim by following these steps:

Incur your eligible expenses and pay bills as you normally would.

Submit your claim, receipts, and any additional required information to WageWorks by selecting one of the following options:

Reimbursements will be sent to you via paper check as a default, but you can enroll in direct deposit online by logging into your WageWorks account.

Claim Filing Deadline: You will have until Apr. 30 of the following plan year to submit claims for expenses incurred during the plan year, which runs from Jan. 1 (or your enrollment date, if later) through Dec. 31. Should your participation in the FSA terminate during the calendar year when you have funds remaining in your account, you may choose to continue participation through COBRA by continuing to make contributions on an after-tax basis. This will allow you to submit claims for services incurred after your last date worked. If you are not eligible for, or choose not to continue your FSA through COBRA, you would only be able to submit claims for expenses you incurred prior to your last date worked.

Questions? Contact the HR Service Center at 315.443.4042 or e-mail hrservice@syr.edu.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained within this website is accurate. However, the benefits are governed by legal documents (which, in certain circumstances, may include insurance contracts). If there is any difference between the information in this website and the official documents, the official documents will control. As is the case with all of Syracuse University’s employee benefit plans, the University reserves the right to modify or terminate these benefits at any time.